Organic Wines Uncorked: Cesar Toxqui's Winning Zins: Grapes from the Wilder Yonder

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Cesar Toxqui's Winning Zins: Grapes from the Wilder Yonder

Hopland's Passport weekend, at $35 for unlimited tasting at more than a dozen wineries, is a steal. But then there's the deals. Hands down the best deal of all the wineries offering deals was the Alexander Valley Zin offered at Cesar Toxqui (pronounced TossKey). This award-winning producer, who's latest entry in the ZAP festival garnered him a rating of 9 out of a possible 9.5 points, has proven his strengths as a winemaker.

The Alexander Valley zin was available at a giveaway prices - $100 for a case. Dry farmed and practicing organic, and made in an organic winery. Cesar's wife Ruth said the vines are untouched, and untended - wild even.

Cesar is the winemaker at Jeriko Estates. He formerly worked at Campovida.

Cesar Toxqui is moving towards biodynamic certification, he told me today, and will be releasing a biodynamic Grenache this summer, a rarity in California.

If you want to get in on more Hopland deals like the $100 case of primo Zin, you can pencil in the date on your calendar for the next Hopland Passport festival, to be held the fourth weekend in October.

If you're a lover of organic and biodynamic wines, as I am, Hopland's Passport is The Passport event to go to. Mendocino's famous for its organic viticulture, with 28% of its winegrapes grown organically or biodynamically. That is more than 4 times as much as any other county in the U.S.

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Wines We Cover

We publish information about wines grown from certified organic or Biodynamic vineyards that are generally made with sulfites (which are usually added in small amounts to preserve the wine).

That includes these certification types:

ORGANIC WINE CERTIFICATIONS

• Made with Organic Grapes

Vineyards: certified organic

Vinification: less than 100 ppm of sulfites (i.e. a normal range)

Winery: certified organic facility

Labeling: front or back label

• Ingredients: Organic Grapes

Vineyards: certified organic

Vinification: up to 350 ppm of sulfites (same as for any non organic wine)

Labeling: back label only

BIODYNAMIC® CERTIFICATIONS

• Biodynamic Wine

Vineyards: certified biodynamic

Yeasts: native

Vinification: less than 100 ppm of sulfites; no additives of any kind

Winery: certified biodynamic facility

Labeling: front or back label; Demeter logo may appear

• Made with Biodynamic Grapes

Vineyards: certified biodynamic

Yeasts: native or organic

Vinification: less than 100 ppm of sulfites; limited number of additives permitted

Winery: certified biodynamic facility

Labeling: front or back

Note: unlike organically grown wines, for which there is a category called "Ingredients: Organic Grapes," wines sourced from biodynamic grapes may not make any biodynamic claim on the bottle label. Bottle labeling is reserved for Demeter certified wines only.

SULFITES IN CONTEXT

According to U.C. Davis, the average among all wines in the U.S. (as well as globally) is 80 ppm.

WHAT THE USDA CALLS ORGANIC WINES

Unlike any other nation, the U.S. oddly imposes a no sulfite restriction on wines in order for them to be called Organic Wine. These wines are also called NSA or NAS wines (which stands for "No Sulfites Added" or "No Added Sulfites.")

From the above description, one can see that there are in fact three types of organically grown wines:

1. Organic Wine (less than 15% of all organically grown wine)

2. Made with Organic Grapes

3. Ingredients: Organic Grapes

The vast majority of wines from organic grapes are labeled Made with Organic Grapes, Ingredients: Organic Grapes or are blended with nonorganic grapes and unlabeled.

Fine winemakers do not generally make wine without sulfites and a number of large wine retailers like BevMo do not sell wine in the category of "USDA Organic Wine."

With rare exceptions, this blog does not cover what the USDA calls "Organic Wine."

We are hopeful that the USDA will revise the categorization of organically grown wines and make NSA or NAS wines a category of their own.

This would put the U.S. in accord with the rest of the world, where "Organic Wine" means a wine from certified grapes made within limits on sulfites (generally under 100-150 ppm).

Organic Wines Uncorked

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Thursday, May 5, 2011

Cesar Toxqui's Winning Zins: Grapes from the Wilder Yonder

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